The Enforcement Directorate said Thursday that it has seized new property worth more than ₹581 crore in its investigation against RHFL and RCFL, companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani.
Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), an interim order was issued on March 11 to attach land in Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.
The features are worth it ₹581.65 crore and were attached as part of investigations related to Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL), the agency said.
“The attachment follows the search operations conducted on March 6 in a case against Reliance Power Limited under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA),” it said.
The ED had earlier also attached the assets of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group.
“Reliance Anil Ambani Group’s cumulative attachment has reached ₹16,310 crore,” the ED said.
What is the probe about?
The investigation stems from a CBI FIR filed against RCFL and RHFL on complaints filed by Yes Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra.
The two companies are said to have received public funds from several banks and financial institutions and more than ₹11,000 crore of these funds turned into non-performing assets, the ED said.
The agency said public funds received by RHFL and RCFL were “diverted” to various Reliance Group companies such as Reliance Infrastructure Limited, Reliance Power Limited, Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Capital Limited, etc.
Funds were diverted by routing them through a large number of shell (fictitious) entities controlled and managed by Anil Ambani’s Reliance group, it alleged.
“These shell entities had negligible financial strength and no business operations,” it said.
According to the ED, its investigation found “little fidelity of intent” on the part of the group’s promoters and key persons.
